A vehicle telematics system is typically a system installed in a vehicle that is capable of determining the location of the vehicle and communicating the vehicle's location to a remote location via a wireless communication link. Vehicle telematics systems are installed in a variety of applications including, but not limited to, fleet management, vehicle finance, vehicle maintenance, driver management, and/or fuel management.
A variety of vehicle telematics systems that are configured to connect with the vehicle bus of a vehicle are described in a series of related patents and patent applications, on which Kenneth E. Flick is named as an inventor. The “Background of the Invention” section of U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,551 to Flick entitled “Vehicle Security System for a Vehicle Having a Data Communications Bus” filed Aug. 22, 1996, acknowledges that vehicle data buses were well known at the time of the filing of the patent and asserts that conventional vehicle security systems were not readily adaptable to a vehicle including a data communication bus. U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,551 illustrates a variety of techniques for connecting a vehicle security system to a vehicle data bus and discloses a method for remotely controlling a vehicle function for a vehicle of a type including a data communications bus connecting a plurality of vehicle devices, the method involving receiving a signal at the vehicle from a remote transmitter so that the vehicle function controller remotely controls a vehicle function responsive to the remote transmitter (see col. 8, lines 51-65).
The “Background of the Invention” section of U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,465 to Flick entitled “Vehicle Tracker Including Stationary Time Determination and Associated Methods” filed May 17, 2001, which claims priority to a number of provisional applications filed on or after May 17, 2000, acknowledges that systems existed at that time to enable the tracking of vehicles via the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,465 discloses a vehicle tracking system. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,465 discloses that the tracking device may communicate with one or more other vehicle devices via a vehicle data communications bus using the techniques described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,551 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,460, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,551.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,750 entitled “Vehicle Tracking Unit for Controlling Operable Vehicle Devices Using a Vehicle Data Bus” filed Mar. 25, 2002, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,465, includes a significant amount of additional disclosure relative to U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,465 concerning the connection of a vehicle tracking system in which a vehicle tracking unit interfaces with a vehicle data bus. Some of the disclosure that was added to U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,750 is as follows (col. 37, lines 1-49):                In an alternate embodiment of the invention illustratively shown in FIG. 36, the vehicle 21 may include a vehicle data bus 360 extending throughout the vehicle and which is connected to one or more operable vehicle devices. As illustratively shown, such operable vehicle devices may include the vehicle alarm indicator 67 (e.g., horn, siren, etc.), a keyless entry device, the engine starter interrupt device 66, the remote start device 63, the door lock actuator 62, and the vehicle security controller 28, although others may also be included as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art. Furthermore, other devices to be monitored, such as the ignition switch 65, may also be connected, to the vehicle data bus 360, for example.        Furthermore, one or more of the operable vehicle devices may be responsive to at least one data bus code received on the vehicle data bus 360. More particularly, each of the above listed operable vehicle devices may have one or more unique data bus codes assigned thereto which, when received, cause a respective operable vehicle device to perform a particular function, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.        As such, a method according to the present invention is illustratively shown in FIG. 37 in which, beginning at Block 370, the controller 40 generates at least one data bus code on the vehicle data bus 360 to control at least one operable vehicle device based upon a command signal received by the wireless communications device 44, at Blocks 371 and 372. Accordingly, the user may not only use the vehicle tracking unit 25 to control numerous vehicle devices, but separate connections between such devices and the controller 40 need not be made. Instead, each of the operable vehicle devices may conveniently be connected to the vehicle data bus 360, which may make the installation thereof easier.        In some embodiments, the command signal received by the wireless communications device 44 may include the at least one data bus code. Alternately, the command signal may relate to the at least one data bus code, and the controller 40 may process the command signal to generate the at least one data bus code on the vehicle data bus 360, as will be understood by those skilled in the art.        Further, the command signal may be provided by the monitoring station 30, and the controller 40 may optionally cooperate with the wireless communications device 44 to send a response message to the monitoring station based upon receiving the command signal, at Block 373, thus ending the method (Block 374). By way of example, the wireless communications device 44 may receive the vehicle data bus device code via a wireless pager network, although other suitable communications formats may also be used.        
FIG. 1 illustrates the vehicle tracking unit illustrated in FIG. 36 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,750. FIG. 2 illustrates the method shown in FIG. 37 of U.S. Pat. No. 6,924,750. Neither FIGS. 36 nor 37 appeared in U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,495.
The disclosures of each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,719,551, 6,011,460, 6,512,465, and 6,924,750 are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.